WASHINGTON — It was a festive night on Wednesday at Washington High School, as the Pam Pack celebrated Homecoming with a thorough domination of South Lenoir, defeating the Blue Devils, 50-8, to pick up its first conference win of the season.

“I’m really happy for our seniors to get a Homecoming win. The last two games left a sour taste in our mouths and we wanted to come out and execute well and get a big win, because we knew we could do that tonight,” Washington head coach Jon Blank said. “We wanted to make sure that we got a win tonight. It was a critical win for us. We felt like we won the game on the field last week, and it kind of got taken away from us.”

The Pam Pack (3-4, 1-2 2A Eastern Carolina Conference) had lost its first two conference games of the season, including a 24-15 loss last week against Ayden-Grifton (4-2, 1-0 2A ECC) when two Washington touchdowns were called back by highly questionable penalties, and entered Wednesday’s game tied for last in the conference with South Lenoir (1-5, 0-3 2A ECC).

The Pam Pack didn’t take long to separate itself from the Blue Devils, scoring 32 seconds into the game. Beginning its first drive of the game at the 50, Washington needed just three plays to reach the end zone, as Michael Clark barreled in from 12 yards out. A two-point conversion was added by a Ka’ci Foreman run, giving the Pam Pack an 8-0 lead.

The Pam Pack forced South Lenoir into a quick three and out and began a fresh offensive series on its own 31. A pair of Ganeryan Parker runs, including a 29-yarder, helped get Washington down to the Blue Devil 31. Antwone Godley then hit Montrice Selby with a 31-yard touchdown pass, making the score 14-0 with 6:49 still left in the opening quarter.

The Washington continued to bottle up South Lenoir, allowing the Pam Pack offense to get back on the field quickly. Washington followed with a 61-yard drive that was capped with a 9-yard TD run from Clark, and another Foreman two-point conversion made the score 22-0 just seven seconds into the second quarter. Uriah Lawrence forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, gifting the Pam Pack the ball on the South Lenoir 32. Foreman, Washington’s 2018 Homecoming King, took the handoff the next play and raced into the end zone, pushing Washington’s lead to 29-0.

Foreman, who had two interceptions against the Chargers last week, continued his recent good form, adding an interception at the Washington 3-yard line late in the fourth quarter to his rushing TD on the night he was celebrated as Homecoming royalty.

Blank said big things are expected from Foreman in these coming weeks.

“Ka’ci is one of those kids that’s got that killer instinct. That’s one of the things that I love about him, he wants to be great. We’ve seen the last couple weeks out of him, he’s really elevated his game because he wants us to win out the rest of this season. We believe that’s something we can do, and he can be a big part of that,” Blank said. “He’s extremely critical for the next couple of weeks. We’ve got some big games and big opponents. Kinston is our next game and they’re a great football team. A guy like Ka’ci really has to be our leader on the field, off the field, and he has to make those big plays for us.”

Selby closed out the scoring in the first half, plunging into the end zone from two yards out, giving Washington a 36-0 lead at the break. The Blue Devils scored on their second possession of the second half, set up by a Washington fumble, but that’d be the limit of their points. Parker reached the end zone from 14 yards out and Jaden Hambric scored on a 7-yard run to cap the night’s scoring.

Washington picked up its first conference win and will next play conference leader Kinston (5-0, 1-0 2A ECC). The Pam Pack won’t face the Vikings until Oct. 26, which Blank said works both as a positive and negative. But regardless of the standings, Blank said his team will go toe to toe with Kinston.

“It’s definitely a double-edged sword. It’s nice to get back on the field after a big win, but it’s also nice to get that extra couple of days to maybe get in film, get in some walk throughs, get the mental part of the game better for us. We’ve tinkered with some things that are just now kind of picking up some steam. So, we feel like the next 16 days can be very good for us,” Blank said. “To come out and play really well tonight, it’s good for our confidence because Kinston is a good football team. But we’re not backing down from them and our kids are going to show up and play.”